Health Care Month
The critically important role of health care workers has been highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Health care employs 387,500 people in Minnesota and there is extremely high demand for many types of workers – from entry level to highly specialized. Now more than ever, Minnesota needs health care workers – in hospitals and clinics, in nursing homes and other senior care locations, in homes and workplaces of people people with disabilities. This month's Local Look blogs from DEED's Labor Market Information office focus on the importance and opportunities health care provides in every region of the state.
Highlighting the importance of the Health Care industry this month is even more appropriate as we mark two full years since COVID-19 cases were first reported in the United States. During these past two years, health care workers have been there to help treat and care for those stricken with the coronavirus, as well as all other ailments and injuries. This post reveals the extreme need for health care workers, including support staff, to fill the record-high number of vacancies in this industry – vacancies that have greatly increased during the pandemic.
As the pandemic stretches on, demand for health care workers is still surging in Central Minnesota. In sum, there were 2,645 job vacancies for Healthcare Practitioners & Technical and Healthcare Support workers in the second quarter of 2021. That was more than double the number of openings compared to the second quarter of 2020 at the outset of the pandemic, and 700 more than the previous peak in 2016. Hiring challenges have been steadily rising in recent years as health care employers have struggled to find enough workers to fill the growing number of positions available in the region; but this year demand is off the charts.
The upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic has stretched far and wide across the economy. At the center of the fight against the virus, workers in the health care sector have repeatedly answered the call under continued stress. The pressure has almost certainly taken its toll on health care workers and there are a record number of job openings both from increased demand and the need to replace workers who have retired or otherwise left the industry. As of the 2nd quarter of 2021 there were over 4,500 Health Care & Social Assistance job vacancies in Northeast Minnesota, accounting for 35% of all openings in the region. These openings represent an abundance of opportunities for jobseekers ready and willing to take advantage, including many that historically have been less represented in Health Care, including a larger percentage of younger workers.
There were nearly 3,300 job vacancies for Healthcare Practitioners & Technical and Healthcare Support workers in the second quarter of 2021, a 65% increase compared to the second quarter of 2019, just prior to the pandemic. After hovering between 1,100 and 1,400 vacancies each year from 2014 to 2018, hiring demand has spiked in the past three years as health care employers have struggled to find enough workers to fill the growing number of positions available in the region. Just over 50% of the job openings in Health Care and Social Assistance were part-time, which was one of the highest rates of any industry in the region.
It's no surprise that jobs in health care are in high demand in Southeast Minnesota given that over one-quarter of the jobs in the region are in the Health Care & Social Assistance industry. According to DEED's Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages data for the second quarter of 2021, there were just under 1,800 Health Care & Social Assistance establishments providing 66,228 jobs in the 11-county region, dwarfing the next largest employing industry, which is Manufacturing with 35,721 jobs.
After surging along with the Coronavirus pandemic last year, demand for health care workers is still high in Southwest Minnesota, but has started to stabilize after peaking in the fourth quarter of 2020. Data from this summer show that were nearly 2,700 job vacancies for Healthcare Practitioners & Technical occupations and Healthcare Support occupations in the second quarter of 2021. That was a massive 245% increase compared to the second quarter of 2019, just prior to the pandemic. But it was about 1,000 fewer than the peak reached in the fourth quarter of 2020. After hovering between 650 and 900 vacancies each year from 2015 to 2019, hiring demand has spiked in the past two years as health care employers have struggled to find enough workers to fill the growing number of positions available in the region.
January 2022 is Health Care Month
Happy New Year! Governor Walz has proclaimed the month of January 2022 as Health Care Month. Now more than ever, Minnesota's health care employers – from hospitals to clinics, from nursing homes to agencies that provide care for people with disabilities in their homes – need workers who want to make a difference in the lives of others.
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